Altitude = Cool

The goal for most folks in Grand Junction this time of year is
to stay cool, since we're experiencing several 100 degree plus
days in a row. For some, that means staying in air conditioned
or evaporative cooled (swamp cooler) buildings. For others, it
means gaining some altitude. That typically means heading up
to the mountains, Glade Park or Grand Mesa. On our the way
back from our "interesting" trip yesterday to Battlement Mesa,
we took a diversion at the small town of Debeque and followed
45 1/2 Road to near the small town of Mesa. This is where we
followed Colorado Route 330 up to the tiny town of Collbran.
We had visited Collbran once, back in 2006, when we were
exploring places to live. It's a much nicer little town in the
summer (we visited in February last time) and although it has
a year-round population, it caters to tourists headed to points
beyond. We drove right on through town, knowing we had to
come back this way and headed on to Vega State Park. This
is a very nice little Colorado State Park that has boating, fishing
and camping. We were given some very helpful information by
Jody at the Visitor's Center about camping and we plan on coming
back in a few weeks. For now though, we drove around the
lake, taking in the scenery and evaluating the campsites. It's
not a very big lake (925 acres) but it's very clean and scenic.
Plus, it's altitude is about 8000 feet, which is about 3000 feet
higher than Grand Junction, making it a bit cooler.


On the way home (about an hour's drive), we saw lots of lush
valleys (rare for this part of the country) and some really tranquil,
verdant ranch land. When we stopped at "The Drive In" in Colbran for
Ice Cream, we were the only ones there. By the time we left, there
were a total of 14 people in the small restaurant. Obviously others
were trying to keep cool today as well.